she told them the girl's father, dustin brown, had agreed to waive his parental rights. when veronica was born, it was matt who cut the umbilical cord. ever since, she lived with them in south carolina. >> i guess people think that we're not supposed to love her until the ink is dry. we're supposed to kind of care for her until, you know, everything is years down the line and she's adopted. >> reporter: they were heartbroken when just four months after they brought veronica home, her biological father filed for paternity and custody, even though he had already signed a legal document saying he would not contest veronica's adoption. he was able to do so thanks to a little-known federal law from 1978 called the indian child welfare act. you see, brown is part cherokee and a member of the cherokee nation, which means veronica is part cherokee, too. congress passed the law after finding 30% of indian children were being removed from their homes and almost all of them were being placed with non-indian families. the law is designed to keep indian children with indian family me